Frederick Strugnell is in custody on a charge of stealing
1051. from the house of Mr. Higgins, a butcher at Islington, and murderously assaulting Mary Ann Redkison, a servant. On Sunday several per- sons were attracted by cries in the shop of Mr. Higgins. A woman was heard shrieking " Pray don't hurt me !" "Don't strike me !" cries followed by blows, and silence. One man hoisted up another, who, on looking in, saw a woman lying on the floor. They then broke open the door, and found that the face of the woman had been beaten in, and that the house had been robbed. The poor girl was taken to the nearest hospital, and, recovering her senses, she named Strugnell as her assailant. The story of this person was that the girl had invited him into the house, that he went out and fetched gin, and that hearing voices the girl thought the street door was open, and, going out to see, a man struck her. Strugnell says he was afraid, and fled out of the front door. To the police Strugnell denied that he had been to the house at all. The girl's statement, taken at the hospital, is different. She says Strugnell, who had for- merly lived in the service of Mr. Higgins, invited himself in ; that after he had fetched the gin she shut the door, that he subsequently went into the parlour " to see the time," and returned. It was then she suspected that the door had been opened, and going out pro- ceeded up-stairs. "Fred" followed her, knife in hand, and she, finding signs of robbery, was running down for the police, when he rushed past, shut the door, and knocked her down with the chopper. This statement is corroborated by the evidence of those who, pass- ing the door at the time, stopped to listen on hearing the girl's cries. Strugnell is remanded. At Carlisle, two persons have died under suspicious circumstances. William Horsley, a young man, was found dead in the kitchen of a public-house kept by his mother-in-law, Mrs. Davidson. He had evidently died from strangulation. The next morning Mrs. David- son was very ill, and she died in a few hours from poison. These two were left up together on the preceding night. It is suspected that the woman had a passion for her son-in-law, and that in a fit of jealousy she killed him, afterwards killing herself. Evidence has been given that she was endeavouring to get possession of strych- nine, and that she had threatened Horsley. The inquiry is ad- journed.
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